SC: Mere naming of big Bank Loan defaulters pointless, Govt. should focus on why NPA is piling up

November,20,2016:

Focus of the Govt. should be on the larger question as to why Non-Performing Assets are piling up, says CJI

The Supreme Court has said that mere public disclosure of names of defaulters who owe banks over Rs. 500 crore in bad loans is simply pointless.

Apex Court Bench led by Chief Justice of India T.S. Thakur observed that focus, instead, should be on the question “as to why these non-performing assets [NPAs] are piling up in this proportion.”

'Simple disclosure of the names will not lead us anywhere. The root of the problem is the question as to why are these NPAs accumulating and why are they being allowed to do so?' CJI Thakur observed.

Earlier it was on the Supreme Court’s order only that the government filed a confidential list of 57 defaulters who combinedly owe the banks about Rs. 85,000 crore in bad loans.

Earlier the Reserve Bank of India was expressing reluctance in making public the names of big loan defaulters.

The apex court had earlier taken a stand that RBI should bring the names of defaulters into the public domain through the Right to Information (RTI) Act.

SC was initially of the view that People should know as to how much money a person has borrowed and how much money he needs to pay back. Why should RBI withhold information?

On Friday, the SC Bench’s change of stance about disclosure of the names was stark, especially when it asked “what change will it do?”

Advocate Kamini Jaiswal, is representing the NGO, Centre for Public Interest Litigation.

The Apex court said the second important thing was to take steps to recover the NPAs.

To this, Solicitor-General Ranjit Kumar, appearing for the Centre and the RBI, submitted that the government was taking steps to clear the NPAs.